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I recently heard about Stella Jean, a new-to-me designer — she has some fabulous coats! I love this unusual black-and-white plaid trench with “a vibrant embroidered mountain scene” at the bottom.
The trench is marked down at the moment — it was $1,050, but is now $630; it's still available in most sizes 2–10.
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Hunting for a lightweight jacket for your commute? Classics include the designer trench ($$$$), as well as this affordable reader favorite raincoat, this classic packable raincoat! Know your office before wearing a jean jacket with your outfit, but if you're on the hunt, this one is a bestseller every year. Check out some of our latest, trendy favorites for 2024 below!
Sales of note for 10.10.24
- Nordstrom – Extra 25% off clearance (through 10/14); there's a lot from reader favorites like Boss, FARM Rio, Marc Fisher LTD, AGL, and more. Plus: free 2-day shipping, and cardmembers earn 6x points per dollar (3X the points on beauty).
- Ann Taylor – Extra 50% off sale (ends 10/12)
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything plus extra 25% off your $125+ purchase
- Boden – 10% off new styles with code; free shipping over $75
- Eloquii – Extra 50% off a lot of sale items, with code
- J.Crew – 40% off sitewide
- J.Crew Factory – 50% off entire site, plus extra 25% off orders $150+
- Lo & Sons – Fall Sale, up to 35% off
- M.M.LaFleur – Save 25% sitewide
- Neiman Marcus – Sale on sale, up to 85% off
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – 50% off 2+ markdowns
- Target – Circle week, deals on 1000s of items
- White House Black Market – Buy one, get one – 50% off full price styles
Sales of note for 10.10.24
- Nordstrom – Extra 25% off clearance (through 10/14); there's a lot from reader favorites like Boss, FARM Rio, Marc Fisher LTD, AGL, and more. Plus: free 2-day shipping, and cardmembers earn 6x points per dollar (3X the points on beauty).
- Ann Taylor – Extra 50% off sale (ends 10/12)
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything plus extra 25% off your $125+ purchase
- Boden – 10% off new styles with code; free shipping over $75
- Eloquii – Extra 50% off a lot of sale items, with code
- J.Crew – 40% off sitewide
- J.Crew Factory – 50% off entire site, plus extra 25% off orders $150+
- Lo & Sons – Fall Sale, up to 35% off
- M.M.LaFleur – Save 25% sitewide
- Neiman Marcus – Sale on sale, up to 85% off
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – 50% off 2+ markdowns
- Target – Circle week, deals on 1000s of items
- White House Black Market – Buy one, get one – 50% off full price styles
And some of our latest threadjacks here at Corporette (reader questions and commentary) — see more here!
Some of our latest threadjacks include:
- What to say to friends and family who threaten to not vote?
- What boots do you expect to wear this fall and winter?
- What beauty treatments do you do on a regular basis to look polished?
- Can I skip the annual family event my workplace holds, even if I'm a manager?
- What small steps can I take today to get myself a little more “together” and not feel so frazzled all of the time?
- The oldest daughter is America's social safety net — change my mind…
- What have you lost your taste for as you've aged?
- Tell me about your favorite adventure travels…
anon filler
Any personal experiences with tear trough filler? Between aging and wearing less makeup due to hybrid work, the purple under my eyes that I’ve always struggled with seems much more noticeable and harder to cover with concealer.
Anonymous
I’ve heard it is dangerous because it can block the optic nerve and cause blindness. Also the skin there is so thin that it shows through. I would be interested to hear what others say.
Cat
I don’t know that the filler helps with color, more so with sagging?
Nesprin
Are you using a color corrector? I started using a yellow-green color corrector instead of concealer on my undereye bags, and it makes a huge difference.
Anonymous
Any tips on cleaning a nylon purse? I have a green one from henri bendel that hasn’t held up well
Cat
I’ve used dish soap and/or laundry detergent successfully (straight from the bottle, scrub with a damp washcloth) on the bottoms of my Le Pliage.
Anon
My Tumi nylon bag was disgusting and it survived a machine wash on gentle.
Anon
This is gross but I left a banana in my Le Pliage for a long time and it got mold spores ALL OVER the bag. It was soooo gross but it cleaned up fine with dish detergent and paper towels.
Anonymous
Baby Wipes and a lot of patience.
Anon
Can anyone recommend a bathrobe that won’t open itself when I walk? I need a new one and I am bathrobe-challenged. Not looking for anything super special or particularly warm, just something will stay shut and is preferably cute.
Anon
You need a zip front robe. LL Bean has a few styles. Sadly, most robes with this closure end up looking matronly so you would have to sacrifice the cute part.
Cat
You need one that has an inside tie and an outside tie. I have a RLL from Bloomie’s with this feature.
Anonymous
This. The one I have from Target has this feature. It is easy to find.
BeenThatGuy
Yep. I have one from Soma and it’s perfect. Never moves.
Vicky Austin
Yup. Mine is actually from Talbots.
Aunt Jamesina
Yup. And if you have a robe you otherwise like, you could easily sew in some ties on your own!
Anon
YMMV may vary on whether this is cute, but it’s soft and well designed (inside tie + external belt: it’s not opening up on accident): https://www.walmart.com/ip/Secret-Treasures-Women-s-and-Women-s-Plus-Super-Faux-Mink-Robe/695307676 . It’s also holding up well in the wash (which is not true of the spendy robe it replaced).
It’s not absorbent though.
Anonymous
Maybe a robe that has more fabric to it, so it overlaps more in the front? I will also leave you this.
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-robes/
Anon
Natori shangri-la robes are the absolute best and will not open when you walk if you buy the right size for your hips.
Anon
Costco! I think the brand is Caroline hochman? I don’t know, but it’s cheap, fluffy, does not shed, and has an inner tie. It was only $15 and sooo glad I bought this one instead of something more expensive.
Curious
Can you help me to plan for a couple upcoming big purchases, especially given how supply chain has been?
In the next three years, we would like to/ will need to:
(1) Buy a patio furniture set that seats 8
(2) Replace our roof
(3) Replace our furnace and possibly install A/C
For the first, is there a good time of year / weekend this traditionally goes on sale?
For the latter two, I presume the process is just a standard “get and compare quotes” process? Is there a time of year that it’s best to do that? FWIW we are in Seattle, so roof replacement season is roughly the dry season — so April-September, with the most dry days in July-August. Any gotchas or things you wished you’d looked at? Any things that were great?
Cat
For big house projects like roofing, HVAC service, and tree removal, you may be able to share in a volume discount if you have neighbors that also need the same thing done.
Anon
I have bought assorted patio furniture over the years and the problem with waiting for a sale is that what you want will be sold out by the end of “outdoor season” and with supply chain issues that’s probably just going to get worse.
I bought mine at a local hardware store/garden center small chain, and I just bought it on one of those no sales tax days. That’s the best discount I could get.
I also bought a small outdoor bistro set from overstock and would probably not do that again. I was slightly disappointed in it when it arrived but return shipping would have been such a hassle it wasn’t really worth it so I’m just living with it.
Anon_05
I agree that if you wait until the end of the season to buy stuff on sale, the selection will be limited. We’ve bought patio furniture from places like Home Depot and Lowes. I’ve also seen patio sets at Macy’s furniture showrooms. We ended up getting cast aluminum. We’re in the midwest and keep them covered during the winter months and they’ve held up fine.
For HVAC stuff, I would get estimates now from multiple places now. Then you can always schedule the work for when you are ready. Try to get a detailed estimate with parts, labor, etc. Ask about the warranty and what type of maintenance you will need to do on your own. For example, my husband changes the air filter in the furnace.
anon
This. Outdoor furniture is pricey no matter what. YMMV but I have been more satisfied with the stuff I’ve bought in person (so I could evaluate quality) than what I’ve bought online.
Curious
When does “outdoor season” start in stores, roughly? April?
Quail
My Target here in Chicago has a ton of patio furniture on display right now. (So tempted by one of those fringed shaded chaise lounges for which I have no space…) But we are a very summer-aspirational people here and my neighbor wears shorts as soon as it’s over 35.
I got our current patio set at target and it’s held up really well.
Curious
Hahaha I love Chicagoans in March. If it’s 50 degrees and sunny it’s warm enough to wear a bikini and tan on the roof!
anon
I live in the Midwest and bought my patio stuff in March. It’s completely picked over if I wait much longer.
A
I live near a Very Fancy Town (Greenwich CT) and bought my outdoor furniture at an estate sale. Estate as in it was a ridiculously massive house- no one died, it was a move/divorce/redecorate thing. Fairly new teak stuff from restoration hardware
anon
I have been pleasantly surprised by how well my Ikea patio furniture has held up. We had it delivered, which is key, because even with a Uhaul it would have been terrible to carry it ourselves.
Anonymous
Talk to hvac companies about the AC in the off-season. Now-July is their busy time.
Anon
And ask the HVAC company about any available incentives and rebates. our HVAC company identified several incentives/rebates that were time sensitive and it brought the cost down considerably. Big plus, the HVAC company did all the paperwork for us.
Curious
This is all super helpful so far; thank you. We especially would never have thought of volume discounts or going in person for the patio furniture after so much online pandemic shopping. Will keep checking back!
Senior Attorney
I have an “outdoor living room” set from Home Depot, of all places, that has held up surprisingly well and looks gret.
KEY POINT: If your buy upholstered outdoor furniture it is 100% worth the (breathtakingly high) price to get Sunbrella or equivalent fabric. Anything less will fade and look awful within a season.
Anonymous
Also, the furniture covers. I would’ve had to replace my cushions every other year without them, plus they’d look awful in the interim.
Pep
Roofers book up early, so if you wait until the season starts to try to get on the calendar, you might find yourself out of luck or not getting your first choice.
Anonymous
1. we got a teak outdoor set from Costco and love it and I think they had lounge sets too. we got a dining one, the Carey 9-piece Teak Dining Set
Curious
Thank you all! This is very helpful.
Anon
If you are ever going to consider solar panels, a good time to do them is right after you replace your roof. (Because if you buy them and have to replace your roof a few years later, you’ll have to have them removed and reinstalled so extra cost). That may not be in the cards or make sense for your home, but something to consider.
Anon
It’s the birthday of the Girl Scouts today. Happy birthday!
Anon
I am pretty meh about my Girl Scout experience overall, and probably won’t push any future daughters of mine to participate; but I truly believe selling Girl Scout cookies was a phenomenal development exercise for many skills that are pivotal to my career success. Granted, I was self-motivated to sell lots of cookies and had parents who were not willing to circulate the form for me, so may be an outlier, but every day I benefit from things the Girl Scouts started to foster when I was ~6.
Anon
I did Camp Fire and it was candy, but same. Also sadly a good life lesson to work really hard and sell a lot but still lose out to kids whose parents took the forms to their office (which mine also refused to do).
Seventh Sister
As a Girl Scout leader, I’m much prouder of the shy ones who get up the courage to go door to door and take a wagon around the neighborhood than the ones who sell a zillion boxes because their parents work on a corporate campus where almost no one has kids. Some work harder to sell 20 boxes than the kid who sold 1000 boxes.
It’s far, far from perfect but it’s so great for some kids, including my kid.
In it for the s'mores
Happy birthday! My troop of teenagers completes their Red Cross First Aid/CPR certification this week and goes camping next weekend. It’s been great with the older girls because they just do the parts they like and….all of the work. Heh.
Pep
My mom served as cookie chair when my sister was in Girl Scouts (mid-70s). I still remember that tractor trailer pulling into our driveway and filling our family room with cases and cases of cookies!
Anonymous
I have never been part of any kind of scouts, and think the cookie thing is creepy, and I’m European.
But I cannot think of ANYTHING I’d rather do today than congratulate a women’s organization that’s been part of the US public life in a hundred years – 100 YEARS y’all. I would truly like to congratulate the scouts, that is absolutely fabulous.
Whether your scout experience is huh?, I learned some knots, I made some friends, I spent a night away from home in a tent, I hate my mum, I want world peace – whatever. I salute you, and I congratulate you.
HIP, HIP, HOORAY!
Anonymous
PS
This post’s coat is the ugliest piece of clothing I’ve ever seen on corporette. Seriously, so effing ugly.
Anon
Thank you!
Seventh Sister
I totally wish we didn’t sell cookies! It’s a huge amount of work for not a lot of $, but HQ really structures a lot of it around participating in the cookie sales.
anon
I need to get a couple of pajama sets for spring/summer. Specifically, I’m looking for cotton/modal. Is there anything more special about Soma’s offerings than, say, the Stars Above line at Target? I’m willing to spend a little more for something that holds up, but I’ll admit that expensive pj’s are sort of hard for me to stomach.
Anon
I have bought the Felina brand at Costco (may also be sold elsewhere) and I really like it a lot. I also like Soma and I find it wears well. There is a decent amount of Soma on ebay including new with tags items, if you are so inclined.
anon in brooklyn
My Stars Above modal pajamas pilled/faded really quickly.
Anon
Mine tore.
Anon
I find my Stars Above pajamas to be kind of gross when worn without a br@.
Anonymous
Agree that Target modal pills, although I think all modal does to some extent. But my Banana republic modal is holding up better than my Gap, which is better than my Target. Look for BR or Gap on sale maybe?
Anon
Counterpoint: I love the modal night shirt I got at Target. Soft and doesn’t pill.
LeeB
I love the sleepwear at Garnet Hill. Comfortable and long lasting.
PolyD
I really like the Vera Wang pajamas at Kohls. They are a cotton modal blend and I think they’ve held up just as well as my Soma Cool Night ones (which really aren’t all that cooling, in my experience).
anon
This is helpful. I own one pair of Cool Nights pj’s and while they’re fine, even good, I’m mildly disappointed that they aren’t a holy grail item for me.
Anon
I’ve had my soma pajamas for years now. They’re cool nights. I actually replaced target PJs with the soma because my target PJs made from the same material wore so thin I might as well have been naked.
I like the sleep camis with some sort of bust support -even a seam under the bust makes a difference – and I like the long inseam wide leg pajama pants.
Anon
Old Navy!